Reunions.....

Once there were two little boys who became the best of friends. Their names were Grant and Ross. These little boys had a friendship that was so special. It was so deep and so rich, one many adults have never experienced.…it defies words to try and describe it.

On one of their adventures together, Grant’s family took the kids to a reptile show. Ross came home with a turtle compliments of Grant’s sweet mama, Emily. Sweet was not the word I was thinking when I realized we had just been gifted with a reptile that would live at least sixty years.

Speedy, as she was dubbed, quickly became a welcome addition to our family. She was the funniest little turtle you could ever imagine. She acted more like a dog than a turtle. She begged for food, and loved being hand-fed. She liked to hang out with everyone. She would come up to the glass and clamor for you to pick her up. Ross and Owain would take Speedy for walks, just like a dog. She loved it! We would play in the front yard, where she would scoot from one person to another, climbing onto their feet and then just sitting there.

One day the boys had Speedy in our backyard for some sunshine and to stretch her legs. Ross had to run into the house for something, so Owain was given turtle guard duty. In the blink of an eye, Speedy was gone. We searched high and low. We spent days looking for Speedy, but to no avail. The heartbreak was unbelievable. I just kept telling Ross that Speedy was on a grand adventure and we just had to keep praying that she would come back soon, and Ross did. Every night he would pray that God would bring his friend back. Speedy did not come back, but Ross kept praying.
 
Ross’s friend Grant was not just any little boy. He was a little boy who had been given a path to walk that would break most of us, or make us question our faith in God. Grant had Mitochondrial disease. Grant’s little body was giving out little by little, but his faith in Jesus was growing by leaps and bounds, with every precious breath he took. Grant, more than most adults I know, had the eternal perspective of knowing where his hope and future was. He knew that even though this little body, which he had been given to house his precious spirit, was giving up...this would not be the end. He knew he was going home to be with Jesus sooner than later.

On February 6, 2009, Grant went home to be with Jesus. I cannot write this without tears running down my face, and my heart aching for his mama, his daddy, his precious big brother and sister, and for the rest of Grant’s family.

It is so precious, the comfort we have in Christ Jesus, that if He is our Lord and Saviour, we will see our loved ones again. This does not change the suffering and sorrow for the people left behind, the grief of not having that precious loved one still with us. But what a comfort, knowing there is a reunion waiting to happen in the future.

When we told Ross that Granty had gone home to be with Jesus, his first words through his tears were, “He was ripe fruit. Jesus took him home.”

Ross was devastated at the loss of his friend, and he went through a very difficult time. Ross knew someday he would see Grant again, and when he did they would sit around and share stories of what they had been up to, but Ross wanted Grant back NOW.

A week after Grant went home to be with Jesus, we got Ross a pug. We thought this would help him through this time. Ross named his pug, Hug Oliver Harrison. Hug, because that is how Grant would say “pug”. Grant had a pug at one point and when you would ask him what kind of dog he was he would say, “Him’s a hug.” The Oliver Harrison were Grant’s middle names. Ross wanted to honor his buddy. One day Hug ran away. I will never forget walking on the road with Ross, looking for Hug and Ross inconsolably saying, “Every time I love someone, they leave. Grant left to go to heaven, Speedy ran away, and now Hug ran away. Why does everyone I love have to leave?” Thankfully, Hug had not left for good. He was just scoping out his new neighborhood.

The following summer, the boys were sitting at the counter in the kitchen eating their lunch, when all of the sudden Owain yelled in a strangled voice, “SPEEEEEEEDDDDDYYYYY!!!!!!!”

Sure enough, there outside our dining room door was Speedy. She was flipped over on her back, because she had tried to climb up onto the door ledge and into the house. There were tears aplenty that day. She had grown, but she was the same old Speedy. She still thought she was a dog and she still loved her boys. There was great rejoicing in the Grandfield house that night. Ross was so in awe that after all that time, God had answered his prayer.

Time passed and Speedy was growing by leaps and bounds. We got her a bigger tank, but she just grew out of that. We talked to Ross about letting Speedy go, how it would be so much better for her to live in freedom. We knew we could not push the issue and it had to be completely his decision. Then one day it happened. It was when Speedy had laid eggs in her tank. Ross realized that the eggs would never get to hatch, and Speedy would always be stuck in whatever tank we could provide for her.

I had the privilege of overhearing his conversation with her when he told her of his decision. He told her before he told us. It went something like this, “Ok, Speedy. I know. I know, Speedy. I have to let you go. You need to be free so you can be a mom and you can swim all over the place. You need to be free so you can explore some more, and not just our backyard. I don’t want to let you go. I am going to be so sad, because I want you to stay here with me. I want to always have you tell me hi when I come in the room and always want to go for walks with me. But Speedy, I love you and I want you to be happy….and I know you are not as happy as you could be. So I am letting you go, but if it is ok with you, I need to spend some time with you. I need to get used knowing you won’t be right here anymore. I want you to stay with me a few more weeks, until March 4th. Then I’ll let you go. I promise."

Ross kept his promise to Speedy. On March 4, 2012, Ross released Speedy, with his brother and his best buddies joining him for the farewell celebration. Speedy was released at what we now affectionately call Speedy’s Spot. It was such a special day…such an emotional day. It was the day my little boy came to understand what genuine love can sometimes require of you. Sometimes it means letting go. Sometimes it means an act of sacrifice. Sometimes it means putting their needs before your needs. Sometimes it means having to say goodbye.

The past week or so Ross had been really missing Grant. The other day he came across a big foam heart Grant had made him that says, “I love you, Ross.” What a sweet find. What a sweet friend Grant was to Ross. He taught Ross so much. Grant is always in his heart and he always misses him, but there are weeks where he struggles with not being able to see him. Ross wants to go have big adventures with his buddy. We remind him that he will indeed see Granty again someday, and they will have eternity to hang out and have big adventures.

The other day we went to the river, to Speedy’s Spot. As we were splashing around, we looked upstream and noticed a good-sized bump on a log. We decided to take a little walk up the river to see if maybe, just maybe, it was a big, red-eared slider who answers to the name Speedy. When we got close enough, we saw it was indeed a red-eared slider. She saw us too and slid into the water. We apologized for disturbing her and left, discussing how awesome it would be if that was Speedy we had just seen. As we made our way back down the river, so did the turtle. She came with us to the place we were hanging out and spent the rest of the day hanging out with the boys in the water. Wherever they went, she went. If they went down the rapids, she went down the rapids. She stayed locked on them for the rest of our time there. The boys talked to her, and if she was a dog, you would have seen her ears perked up and her head tilting, as she listened to her boys chatting with her. It was a precious day at Speedy’s Spot. It was a wonderful reminder that even when we do have to say goodbye, it does not mean it is forever. Someday there will be other reunions too.....


 
Speedy taking her first steps of freedom on March 4, 2012.